Before I continue let me make it clear that the above is not an accusation but a genuine question, and one which I think needs to be answered urgently. By now there can be few people who have not heard that Sir Paul Stephenson, the Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police force, resigned last night. In [...]
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published revised Advisory Fuel rates to be used as mileage allowances where an employee is provided with a company car but not with company fuel. This can be, and usually is, advantageous to the employee who instead of being liable to be taxed on the “benefit in kind” of [...]
It’s over a year now since I pointed out that it is actually in the best interest of the British taxpayer for banks (or any other business) to pay large bonuses to their staff. It isn’t hard to see why this should be so and so I’m rather surprised that neither the media nor Government [...]
On Tuesday 4th January 2011 the Standard Rate of Value Added Tax is increasing from 17.50% to 20%. This change will mean a lot of extra work for VAT registered businesses and any non registered business or private individuals should consider whether there are any steps they can take to try and pay at the [...]
On July 20th this year the Chancellor George Osborne announced the establishment of the Office of Tax Simplification (“OTS”) charged with the task of providing the Government with independent advice on simplifying the UK tax system. Not before time! Today the OTS announced details of two initial reviews, which are to be completed before the [...]
In a new paper contributing to the debate about higher education funding, the Institute of Directors (IoD) argues that a graduate tax is the wrong policy solution and would damage the UK’s tax competitiveness. Nor would it solve the problem of widening participation. The IoD urges the Government to opt for an extension of the [...]
The Coalition’s June 2010 Budget announced that the Government wished to consider how the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system could be improved in order to reduce costs, ensure accurate tax calculations, and make it easier for employers and HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) to administer. In all honesty something does need to be [...]
Capital Gains Tax (“CGT”) was introduced by Harold Wilson’s Labour Government in 1965. Its purpose was simple: To tax the profit or “gain” made on the sale or “disposal” of an asset by individuals. Companies do not pay CGT but instead any gain is taxable as part of their Corporation Tax bill. The original reason [...]
UK tax law is among the most complex in the world, and it has been getting more complex every year. Despite the fact that I earn a fair amount of my income advising on tax matters I welcome the announcement by Chancellor George Osborne of the establishment of the Office of Tax Simplification. The problem with UK [...]
University tuition fees could be replaced by a new “graduate tax” under new proposals put forward by business and skills secretary Vince Cable. He proposed that the government would pay fees directly to universities instead of lending money to students to cover the cost and then having them pay these loans back by an extra [...]
The new Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government has just published the text of the Coalition Agreement made between the parties. Should you wish you may view this via the link below. The agreement states that it is the intention of the new government to increase the rate of Capital Gains Tax (“CGT”) for “non business assets”. [...]
Before the recent election all the three main parties were saying that they “had no plans to increase or extend VAT”. In fact the Labour Party actually ruled it out, but then they knew full well that the chance of them being in power, even with Lib Dem support, was fairly negligible. So it proved. [...]
I was talking to an Independent Financial Advisor a couple of days ago and in conversation asked him how he was getting on winding up the estate of a mutual client who died about 18 months ago. “Fine”, he said, “but it looks like we have paid too much Inheritance Tax on the house” – [...]
Benjamin Franklin said, “In this life nothing is certain but death and taxes”. When anyone who is resident or domiciled in the UK dies those they leave behind will find that HMRC will want a slice of the dead person’s estate – their money, house, possession etc. This tax used to be called Death Duties [...]
There has long been a common misconception that the payment of fees to non-executive directors can be made without having to account for tax and National Insurance (NI) by way of the PAYE system. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Directors, non-executive or otherwise, are considered to be “officeholders” by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) [...]
I’ve suddenly had a lot of people contact me to ask the above question regarding the tax free ISA (Individual Savings Account) products that are available to UK taxpayers. This is probably due to changes that came in last month. If you don’t know what an ISA is then have a look at this earlier article. [...]
When I trained as a tax accountant many years ago there was a clear understanding that my duty was to my client and whilst I should not collude in illegal tax evasion or financial irregularity I owed no duty to “rat” on clients to the authorities. Indeed it was always accepted that anything told to [...]
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are convinced that there is widespread tax avoidance in the construction industry and have recently issued a consultation paper outlining their proposals for tackling the problem – proposals which are likely to result in a substantially higher tax burden for many genuinely self-employed workers as well as more red [...]
For many years UK taxpayers benefitted greatly by transferring (settling) their assets in offshore trusts, but increasing ant-avoidance legislation has led people to believe that there is no point in using an offshore trust any more. Whilst it is true that the tax advantages are no longer as good and they once were the fact [...]
A shock announcement in the small print of this year’s budget has left thousands of UK farmers and second home owners reeling at the loss of tax breaks without which they may have to sell up. Not a good thing in a falling market. But it could benefit owners of foreign holiday property. Buried deep [...]
